thinking positive..

Yes, I still want to go abroad, but I started to think after my last posting that why not try to enjoy the time here. After all, there are nice things in Lappeenranta and the university if compared to the other universities I've studied in other countries. 

We have student healthcare (including dental services) which is a lot cheaper but good quality (for example teeth cleaning costs 4,5 euros), the lunch at the restaurant (there's at least 3 of them to choose from in the campus area) costs from 1,05-4,50. I usually pay for a soup and salad 2,50 and it includes bread and drinks. The food is usually good too. There's a free gym, well it's quite small and students can use it only on a certain times, but still, it will do it for me. And there is a big sports hall, where you can play badminton, basketball, etc. It's free too. And the beautiful nature around the city is perfect for jogging, cross-country skiing, skating etc.

The student accommodation, organized by LOAS is cheap and really good if I compare my other experiences..   I pay 354 euros for my studio which is about 30 square meters with a big balcony. That amount includes electricity, internet, water, heating... 

Lappeenranta is close by St.Petersburg, 2,5 hours away from the capital city Helsinki and the trains go there several times a day (it's around 20 euros one way with the student card. So with that you get -50% off the price). But thanks to the Russian tourists who come to Lappeenranta for shopping, there are quite many nice shops here that wouldn't otherwise exist in a small city like this... 

So yeah, enough with complaining and now more positive attitude. :)

Grades and stuff

Finally, after some technical problems in HUB, I got my grades. They were pretty ok, worse than previous semesters, but what I expected. Anyway, I was working the whole autumn 20 hours a week in addition to the lectures and got stuck in Dublin so the amount of time spent on studying was a lot less than before. 


Best grades I got from ICT strategy and architecture and Russian culture & language. :) 


Back in Lappeenranta life is nice but boring. I've been arranging a lot of things (Russian visa, student grand, exchange papers, general moving a flat-things, other paperwork stuff, etc) and experienced plenty of bad luck (falling down with bicycle & feeling weird the next 24 hours, loosing internet connection for a day, getting into an argument over the deposit money in the previous flat, etc.). In top of this I should write my thesis.. we'll have a seminar on Friday. I'm really excited to see everyone after all this time though!! Can't wait!


This is what I succeeded to do well this week.. Some yummy ruisleipä :)

Back in Finland

I left Belgium on Monday. "Surprisingly" my flight was delayed again.. There was only two delayed flights going from Brussels that evening, and the other  one was to Cairo (more obvious reasons). 


I got to Lappeenranta on Tuesday with a huge amount of my stuff.. I got quite nice flat from LOAS, it's just recently renovated. I actually think that nobody has used the oven before me.. It's the kind of luxury I enjoy after the recent shabby flats where I've stayed. And this place is only 5-10 minutes from the university by bicycle. 


There's also downside of being back, we have deadline for the thesis (theoretical framework mainly) on Friday and I haven't worked enough with it! I just haven't had the time.. Well, past few days I've tried to do my best so I think I'll have something worth of presenting at next weeks seminar. 


Oh, and other thing to do is to apply for the Russian visa for the master's thesis seminar in March and April. I'll focus on that on Saturday.  


I think I kind of like to be back, even though it's a bit shock. It's so quiet here and I keep wondering where all the people are hiding... I can walk through a grocery store without seeing anyone else except the lady at the cashier and one granny running after the discounts... 


Well, the fresh, delicious tap water, ruisleipä and great (100Mbps) internet connection compensates...


Home sweet home...

The sight you don't want to see - delayed flight... 

I miss you too...

...my dear MITIMs!


As Shot wrote in her blog, "LUT without the MITIM 2011 students, is like a fish without water". And for the first time, I feel a bit homesick...






Few more weeks in Brussels and then I'm heading back to Lappeenranta...

It´s summer!

Whow, I haven´t been writing here in a long time..

The spring was quite busy and in the end of May my little black minilaptop decided that she has been working too hard and kept really ugly noices so I had to take her to the mainentance..

The reason for being so busy was not only the studies but also looking for the internship, arranging the exchange semester, helping out in the 1.st EU-Russia Innovation Forum, packing and moving out of Lappeenranta back to Helsinki. The part of the studies that kept me busy was the intensive course of International High-Technology Marketing (still 1 report to write for that, due date is in the end of this week) and writing of the proposal for my Master´s thesis. Concerning my thesis topic, I´ll write more in the beginning of autumn when I know for sure if I´ll be working for a certain project...

Yes, I got an internship/summerjob with a logistics company (invoicing department)! Yeei! I started 7.th of June and I have to say that I´m just now getting to be familiar with the job, even though I have earlier experience in these kind of things, like invoicing and bookkeeping. (but not in the field of logistics...!). So far I´ve liked the job a lot, the people are really nice and the athmosphere is international.

Yes, I got to go for an exchange next semester! Yeei! I decided to go to Brussels, Belgium (HUB) for several reasons and day by day I get more confident that my decision was excellent. Now I just need to find a flat...

Well, here´re some news, I´ll add up some photos soon (specially those from the 1st EU-Russia innovation forum, where we had these nice pink scarfs and wearing it I look like a fligh attendant)...

New title

Since I´m no longer studying in St.Petersburg, I decided to change the title of the blog as well... So, now I´m here in Lappeenranta, starting the spring semester tomorrow. Can´t wait for seeing everyone after a month long holiday :)